As the sun lights up a crisp winter morning landscape, the locust tree near the house hosts a colorful visitor.

woodpecker backing down the tree

She starts out from up high and gradually backs down the tree trunk to her final destination.

Red-bellied woodpecker

She is a red-bellied woodpecker (strange name, since there isn’t much of a red belly). Her male counterpart sports an entire head of bright read feathers; she has a grey crown but still a good bit of color. That black and white pattern on her back helps her to easily blend with the bark background. Now she has reached the suet feeder.

female red-bellied woodpecker

She always seems a bit nervous and doesn’t stay long. Even a light noise from inside the house will scare her off.

Cool post. The opening image is fantastic, and I especially like how I missed the small figure of the bird on the tree until I started going through the series and was forced to go back and look again. Now there is an object lesson; gentle but effective.